The Pitfalls of Moving Long Distance on the Cheap

There’s value and then there’s cheap. Understanding the difference can save you a lot of money.

Moving can be an expensive proposition. Between housing deposits, gas money, shipping costs, new items that need to be purchased and other expenses, the bills add up quickly. This can lead you to choose the cheapest moving option you can find. Sometimes this translates into a no frills move that gives you exactly what you need: easy load, on-time delivery, nothing damaged or broken. Other times though, using a moving company or shipping service that quotes a super cheap price can end up costing you more than it is worth.

Cheap Move Fails

Oftentimes, it’s our realtor who hears the horror stories of cheap moves gone bad. One mom tells the story of her mover, who gives a time estimate of a few weeks for the household goods to arrive. In reality, it takes a few months – forcing Janis to put her toddler to bed … on the bedroom floor! Since the mover continues to answer her inquiries about a delivery date with “a few days,” Janis figures she wouldn’t need to shop for new furniture. “When I got the final moving docket,” she says, “I learned that my goods had been stuffed in a warehouse for months while they actively lied to me about how long it was going to take.”

How Busfreighter.com Can Help

Greyhound Package Express (GPX), our shipping partner, has tracking tools that show you where your shipment is from start to finish. You’ll also get a call when delivery is ready, if you choose the door-to-door option. While Busfreighter.com is not an overnight shipping option, we generally get your packages from one location to the other within ten business days.

When A Quote Isn’t THE Quote

Ross gets a quote from his mover over the phone. When they arrive for the move, however, they increase the cost estimate by more than 50 percent versus what he is quoted. He agrees to pay; otherwise, the mover wouldn’t move his household goods. “Turns out that estimates given over the phone aren’t binding, which they had not mentioned when they gave the quote,” he says. “The movers then spent more than three hours moving two small rooms, with me helping them move boxes and furniture while they took breaks.”

How Busfreighter.com Can Help

Our online Instant Quote & Ordering form helps eliminate surprises that can ruin your moving budget. If you know what you want to move and how you want to move it, quotes shouldn’t change when you get the bill.

A Valuable Loss

When Kristy and her husband move from Maryland to Michigan, their mover misplaces a box full of every single Hallmark ornament her husband’s mom and grandma had given him over the years. Kristy says, “(The ornaments) were never recovered.”

Also, we are upfront with our customers, telling them that shipping very fragile items via Greyhound bus may not be the best option. Fragile items like fine china, crystal, artwork -and Hallmark ornaments- require extra protection that Busfreighter.com and Greyhound cannot guarantee. Unless your packaging skills are extraordinary, you’re better off not taking the risk.

Time Tested Advice

Pete is just a college student trying to save money, so he and his pals decide to move all their worldly belongings themselves, no problem. “Unfortunately,” he says, “we got our couch stuck in a stairwell and had to call a moving company to come help us. Let’s just say that we didn’t save any money that weekend.”

How Busfreighter.com Can Help

Time tested advice is how we can help here: measure first, move second.

Busfreighter.com – Still the Best Kept Secret in Shipping

The more you ship, the more you save! Together, Busfreighter.com and GPX have nearly 30 years combined experience facilitating package shipments via a nationwide bus network. Our service is a great way to ship multiple boxes across the country while keeping within your budget. Whether you are relocating to a new city or shipping purchases to Etsy or Ebay customers, Busfreighter.com is an economical way to send packages long distance. Visit www.Busfreighter.com, fill the Instant Quote & Ordering form, buy moving supplies direct from the factory and save.